If you’re young this’ll show you why us old farts are so hard on most current music.
It doesn’t get much better than this.
I’m 68. Presumably you and I grew up with the same music. We were extremely fortunate to grow up at a time when there was a sort of explosion of creativity in popular music that may not reoccur anytime soon, if at all.
At the same time, I believe it’s important to recognize that, a) not only does each generation have its own music but b) each generation tends to regard the music they favor as superior to what the next generations likes! It’s human nature.
For example, my parents loved Classical music. While I respect Classical music’s incontestable attributes, I’ve never been much of a fan, aside from solo piano works. I recognize that it’s far more harmonically and melodically sophisticated than most of the Rock, Americana, Country, Folk and Blues I enjoy, but I still don’t favor it. When I want to listen to music that’s more sophisticated, I prefer Jazz.
In my mid twenties I began to feel that the music I’d been listening to was somehow no longer enough to fully satisfy me. This vague feeling of dissatisfaction triggered a wonderfully stimulating, multi-decade exploration of Jazz. Many people our age who I’ve encountered have expressed mystification regarding my enjoyment of Jazz. They may love the Allman Brothers but the fact that the Allmans were deeply influenced and inspired by Miles and Coltrane doesn’t, in and of itself, inspire them to explore Jazz or, apparently, help them appreciate Jazz when they hear it. So the attributes of Jazz that the Allmans found so appealing are lost on many people I know who love Live at Fillmore East.
My point is that there are both objective and subjective factors at play when it comes to musical preferences and the lines between the two tend to get blurred very easily.
1) Just because I like something doesn’t mean my neighbor will like it.
2) Just because what I like may be, by objective standards of musicianship and composition, most sophisticated than what my neighbor likes, doesn’t mean he will like it.
I may believe he ought to like it, for either 1 or 2 or both, but that doesn’t mean he will. In fact, this may elicit the exact opposite reaction from him.
My 2 cents. . .